When the faculty contracts came out in the summer of 1972, the glamor Ewigleben had
accumulated in his first few months at the helm of Ferris began to dissipate.

During the summer of 1972 the College granted a 3 percent increase plus a $200 merit
increase on the recommendation of the department head. This averaged out to about
4.5 percent, a figure which was not received with any amount of enthusiasm. The $200
did not apply to everyone (particularly those with full professor rank), and those
who did not earn it were even more disgruntled.

(The dilemma occurred because the College's budget request for salaries was heavily
eroded by unexpected increases in the amounts needed to be put aside for Ferris contributions
to Social Security and state retirement funds.)

Some faculty members began talking about unionizing as a way to create a bargaining
wedge. This was not the first time there had been discussions about collective bargaining.
It had in fact been cropping up almost annually for a number of years. There had been
some talk of faculty unionization as early as the 1958-59 school year at the time
of the accreditation and the formation of the American Association of University Professors.
As talks began about formation of the AAUP, the administration of the College was
none too eager for the organization to be formed. Some viewed it as a precursor of
collective bargaining; however, the truth was that at the time the AAUP was being
organized another group of faculty was "sounding the AAUP contingent out" about collective
bargaining. But at that time the AAUP was interested only in enhancing professionalism,
not collective bargaining.

Some faculty members began talking about unionizing.

However, at Central Michigan University, 45 miles away, faculty had bargained their
first contract in 1970, and salaries increased significantly.

On the strength of what was happening at Central Michigan and other colleges and universities
around the nation, Ferris' AAUP and the Michigan Education Association contingents
began girding themselves for a battle over which organization would become the faculty
bargaining agent.

A faculty union, however, was not officially forthcoming until 1973, and that was
nearly a year in the making.

In May of 1972, the Ferris Faculty Association (FFA), which was affiliated with the
Michigan Education Association, began collecting signatures of personnel who were
interested in unionization. At the same time the AAUP also began collecting signatures.
Both groups claimed to have 30 percent of the faculty signatures, and the proper papers
were filed with the Michigan Employment Relations Committee.

AAUP and MEA girded for battle.

In accordance with due procedures an election was held on Oct. 19, 1972.

At this election, plans for unionization were defeated; 143 of the faculty voted for
no union; 137 for the MEA affiliate, and 133 for the AAUP.

After the required three months' wait, a second vote was taken with choice of no union
or the MEA/FFA affiliate. Collective bargaining won with 221 persons voting for it
and 161 against. A few more than 400 faculty members were eligible to vote, and approximately
87 percent exercised their right.

Among the bargaining tactics was the release of a list of faculty salaries, heretofore
held sacrosanct. There had been a rumble in the faculty ranks in 1929 when the salary
figures were released, but there was a full-blown storm around campus when the list
was first released in the new era. Some faculty members found that friends were making
more than they even though credentials were equal, and the friends suddenly were no
longer friends.

It had been the policy of the school each year after the state college status was
granted to give some contingent a sizable increase. One year it was the faculty, another
year the maintenance workers, and another year the clerical workers.

However, after the union was formed most professional staff salaries and fringes were
subject to collective bargaining, and the college proceeded each year with this system.

In 1978 the faculty struck in protest of the lack of a new agreement. A strike of
the professional staff had been unprecedented, but a strike among nonprofessional
workers was not. Food service workers and the maintenance workers belonging to the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) had first struck
in 1969 and again in 1972 when the faculty was in the process of considering its union.

The faculty walked out at the start of the school year, picketing the campus during
the first few days of classes. Most joined in, but a few attended their classes as
scheduled. Some merely stayed home. They didn't want to picket, but they wanted to
show support for the union.

This was on a Monday morning; on Wednesday afternoon Circuit Judge Lawrence J. Root
ordered the striking faculty back to work while a factfinder studied the matter and
prepared recommendations. Root's action was agreed to by both the teachers and the
school.

The faculty agreed to teach while mediation was conducted and to make up the time
lost during picketing both in classroom time and office hours.

Some tensions continued, but so did negotiations and a mutually agreeable contract
was eventually worked out.

Members of the Ferris faculty walked off the job at the start of the fall quarter
classes in 1978 for 2 1/2 days, marking the first strike in the college's history.
Differences were settled, however, and a contract was agreed upon several months later.